Don Drummond
Title: Memorial Album
Release date: May 25th 2009
Label: TROJAN/Universal Music
Format: CD & Digital Download
Cat # 2705029
2009 marks the 40th year since Jamaica lost one of its best-loved sons, Don Drummond, and as a tribute to his life and his music, Trojan presents this long over-due collection from the legendary trombonist and original member of The Skatalites.
Aside from the dozen recordings that comprised ‘Memorial Album’, this 2CD set also contains the original, early sixties mixes of the tracks on the LP, along with the entire ‘Skatalite’ collection from 1964, plus an additional 13 Duke Reid-produced instrumentals from the era. Consequently, this is not just a fitting tribute to one of the most loved and talented performers ever to grace the Jamaican music industry, but also the most comprehensive collection of the Treasure Isle label’s pre-1965 output yet to see issue.
For those unfamiliar with the legendary trombonist’s music and the story of his tragic life, it may be difficult to comprehend why, some 40 years since his death, Jamaica still mourns Don Drummond. Indeed, why anyone other than kin should grieve at all for a man convicted of murdering his 23 year-old girlfriend, Anita "Margarita" Mahfood, is in itself a concept with which many might struggle. And while the account of the celebrated trombonist’s life up to that tragic event may go some way to explaining why this hugely gifted and troubled man remains so special and precious to so many, the most eloquent explanation is found in the music itself.
On learning of Don Drummonds death on May 6th 1969, Duke Reid, one the producers with whom the trombonist had recorded extensively sought to pay his own homage, dusting off some of the tapes from some of Drummond’s old Ska sessions, before giving a selective number of recordings a contemporary Reggae feel, courtesy of Winston Wright’s overdubbed Hammond organ. For reasons best known to the Treasure Isle boss, also among those tracks updated were Dotty & Bonnie’s 1964 hit, ‘Dearest’ and ‘Let George Do It’, one of Reid’s earliest big sellers that featured Drummond’s protégé, Rico Rodriquez. Of the remaining ten tracks, all but one were instrumentals that featured Drummond to varying degrees, while the one remaining recording was Anita Mahfood’s sole vocal effort, the haunting (if somewhat off-key) ‘Woman A Come’, a buru-styled track written of her paramour, 'the king of ace from outer space'. The seemingly random selection of material may well have been due to the dozen recordings originally being intended to form an album back in ’64, when a similar set entitled ‘The Skatalite’ saw issue on Reid’s Treasure Isle imprint, although this remains supposition.
Released in Jamaica as ‘Don Drummond’s Greatest Hits’, the collection was licensed to Trojan, who re-titled the set, ‘Memorial Album’ before issuing it towards the tail end of 1969. Five years later, the London-based company put out what was to all intents and purposes an accompaniment selection, albeit without Winston Wright’s embellishments. Distributed on the company’s Attack subsidiary and simply entitled ‘Tommy McCook’, the LP was in fact a straight re-issue of the aforementioned LP, ‘The Skatalite’, the compilation finally receiving its official UK release a decade after hitting the stores in Jamaica
In summarising Don Drummond’s life, a journalist recently wrote that his was a ‘story of music, passion and hardship; one of madness and murder’ – an accurate a précis as could be conveyed, but of course there was so much more to the man capable of reducing an audience to tears through the sheer beauty and passion of his music. And for those still bemused as to why a nation still mourns his passing, hopefully the recordings on this set will go some way to providing an explanation.
Disc 1
1) Garden Of Love - Don Drummond & The Skatalites (1969 Remix)
2) Feeling Fine - Roland Alphonso & The Skatalites (1969 Remix)
3) Dearest – Dotty & Bonnie (Frankson) (1969 Remix)
4) Street Corner – The Skatalites (1969 Remix)
5) Latin Goes Ska – Lester Sterling & The Skatalites (1969 Remix)
6) Green Island - Don Drummond & The Skatalites (1969 Version)
7) Silver Dollar - Don Drummond & The Skatalites (1969 Remix)
8) Let George Do It – Rico Rodriquez and His Group (1969 Remix)
9) Woman A Come – Marguerita & Baba Brooks (1969 Remix)
10) Cotton Tree (aka Knock Out Punch) – Baba Brooks & Don Drummond (1969 Remix)
11) Doctor Dekker – Baba Brooks & Don Drummond (1969 Remix)
12) Occupation - Don Drummond & The Skatalites (1969 Remix)
13) Garden Of Love - Don Drummond & The Skatalites
14) Feeling Fine (Album Version) Roland Alphonso & The Skatalites
15) Dearest – Dotty & Bonnie (Frankson)
16) Street Corner – The Skatalites
17) Latin Goes Ska (Album Version) – Lester Sterling & The Skatalites
18) Green Island (Album Version) - Don Drummond & The Skatalites
19) Silver Dollar (Album Version) - Don Drummond & The Skatalites
20) Let George Do It (Longer Version) – Rico Rodriquez and His Group
21) Woman A Come - Marguerita & Baba Brooks
22) Cotton Tree (aka Knock Out Punch) – Baba Brooks & Don Drummond
23) Doctor Dekker (Album Version) - Baba Brooks & Don Drummond
24) Occupation - Don Drummond & The Skatalites
Disc 2
1) Yard Broom – Roland Alphonso & Don Drummond
2) Carry Go Bring Come – Justin Hinds & The Dominoes
3) Magic – Duke Reid’s All Stars
4) Twelve Minutes To Go – Don Drummond & Group
5) Strolling In – The Duke Reid Band
6) Don De Lion (Album Version) - Don Drummond & The Skatalites
7) Apanga – Tommy McCook
8) Eastern Standard Time (Album Version) - Don Drummond & The Skatalites
9) Rough & Tough – Stranger Cole
10) Musical Storeroom (Album Version) – Frank Anderson & Don Drummond & The Skatalites
11) When You Call My Name – Stranger Cole & Patsy Todd
12) River Bank (Part 1) – Baba Brooks & His Band
13) Cool Smoke (Album Version) – Don Drummond & The Skatalites
14) Watermelon Man Baba Brooks Band
15) Rocket Ship – Tommy McCook & The Skatalites
16) J.F.K.'s Memory – Don Drummond & Tommy McCook
17) Musical Communion (AKA "Sly Mongoose") – Baba Brooks & Tommy McCook
18) Sailing On – Don Drummond & Roland Alphonso
19) Good News (Album Version) – The Skatalites
20) The Mood I Am In – The Duke Reid Band
21) Melody Jamboree – Don Drummond & Baba Brooks
22) Boat Ride – Baba Brooks & The Skatalites
23) Corner Stone (Album Version) – Roland Alphonso & The Skatalites
24) Spider – Don Drummond & Baba Brooks
25) Sandy Gully – Roland Alphonso & The Skatalites